Flat repair: Sometimes I swap in the spare tube and move on, and sometimes I patch the original. However, by the time I pump up the flat tube to diagnose the flat, it seems easiest just to patch the hole(s) I find right then and there. So, my flat fix procedure is: 1) remove tube and pump up to find leak 2) scour area around hole with sandpaper, apply glue 3) sweep the tire looking for the cause of the puncture, remove it 4) apply patch now that glue is tacky 5) press patch firmly and count to 30 6) pump up tube to double-check for other holes 7) re-insert tube, remount tire
However, if I have other riders waiting on me, I'll ask one of them to put a new tube in the tire and start pumping while I patch the flat tube for re-use later. This takes less time on a group ride. Last week, I had my two punctures: A) on my Riv Road 650b, where a small thorn punctured the tread. Easily removed and patched. First flat in ~1700 miles on Pari-Motos! B) on my plastic Foundry Auger, where a metal staple punctured the tread. Easily removed and patched, Bontrager CX0 tires. On each bike, I carry: Pump (2 pumps get swapped around between my five bikes: a Zefal HPX #4, for the 2 Rivs with pump pegs, and a Lezyne Micro Floor Drive <http://www.lezyne.com/product-hpumps-hp-microflrhp.php#.VzJEPvkrJpg> for the others) Spare tube Patch kit (I love the Rema Tip-Top 20 <http://www.rematiptop.com/part.php?pid=53&cid=5&sid=4>, which includes tire levers) Tire levers (see above) Multi-tool (my faves are the Crank Brothers M10 <https://www.crankbrothers.com/tools_M10> or M17 <https://www.crankbrothers.com/tools_M17>) Saddle cover Short bungee or two (for parking brake, or for lashing on a jacket) Lock (usually a light cable or chain; I don't lock my bikes in high-theft areas) If the bike has battery lights (2 of 5 bikes), I pack spare batteries. My fat bike has an appetite for chains, so I carry at least one Connex link and usually a spare chain, and the fattie gets the M17 which includes a chain tool. On tour, I add: Leatherman Wave pliers/multi-tool Brake cable Shift Cable Chain FiberFix emergency spoke replacement Silver shifter replacement disks If I'm riding a 650b bike, I'll add a spare tire. I actually used the Leatherman on last year's RAGBRAI. I stopped for a group that were all staring at one guy trying to remove his rear wheel to change a flat. Turns out, he borrowed a bike that had security axles, and he either didn't have the key or didn't know where to look for it. The axle end was easily removed with my Leatherman pliers (not that secure). The group turned out to be the US Air Force cycling team, and they gave me a cool commemorative coin (aka Round Metallic Object, RMO <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin>) for my trouble. They said they were relieved to see me pull over, since I would obviously have tools in my big panniers (correct assumption). They were all on road bikes with minimal bags. But, in their defense, they were supported by RAGBRAI crew plus their own support team. I just got there a lot sooner. Fellow airmen to the rescue! (FYI, I flew B-1 bombers for 8 years) They also appreciated my frame pump, which was easier work than the tiny pump they were going to use. Cheers, Tim On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Jim Bronson <[email protected]> wrote: > Yeah what Steve said. Although, I do have some admiration for people who > do patch tubes successfully. I've never been able to get the technique > down quite right. > > On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 1:38 PM, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> On 05/10/2016 09:25 AM, Ginz wrote: >> >>> I'd eliminate one of the tubes. A single tube with patches should be >>> sufficient. >>> >> >> "Should." I guess you've never had a bad day. Or failed to find a >> nearly invisible wire or itsy bitsy tiny glass shard. I have. And even on >> a group ride, with all but two of my bikes nobody in the group but me is >> going to have tubes that will fit. So I carry 3 tubes, and let them weigh >> what they weigh. As for patches: fine as a last ditch alternative, but if >> you're having a bad day odds are that either you're going to discover the >> glue in your patch kit has dried out and turned to a little rubber marble, >> or you're going to mess it up and the patch will leak. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > signature goes here > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
